Sunday, January 27, 2013

Deeper Cold

It's colder this Sunday morning across Fairbanks-land, and it's a deep cold. Here's a temperature trace from the early morning sounding. Unlike my usual fashion, this one is for the lowest five kilometers of the atmosphere. This is quite a cold troposphere: the warmest temperature in the entire atmosphere over Fairbanks is just -27.5C. Note too that the inversion right at the at the time of the sounding was not all  sharp: the surface was only about 4C cooler than 400 meters up. Since then the inversion has sharped some as valley temperatures are now well down in the 40s below.

Some low temperatures reported so far (through 9am AST) include:

Fort Wainwright: 51 belo
Eielson AFB: 50 below
Goldstream Creek: 49 below (through 6am) 
Fairbanks Airport: 48 below
UAF West Ridge: 42 below
Keystone Ridge: 28 below
Clearly Summit: 22 below

In the eastern Interior it's, as usual, even colder:

Chicken Co-op: 60 below
Eagle Co-op: 57 below
Fort Yukon: 56 below
Eagle Airport: 55 below
Dawson, YT: 54 below
Circle Hot Springs: 52 below
Northway: 51 below

7 comments:

  1. Here's what cold looks like from above: http://co.fairbanks.ak.us/airquality/CRCurrentPhoto.jpg

    Gary

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    Replies
    1. Gary, Do you know exactly where this image is taken from? Is this like from Hagelbarger or maybe McGrath Road area?

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    2. I "think" it's from the Dog Mushers Hall. Never really traced it down, but passing by at speed in the summer on the Harley I notice a tower to the east of the Hall that may hold the cam, and a power line to the west of that in the pic.

      Hagelbarger makes more sense though, given the panoramic view. Being lazy, maybe I'll call the Borough and ask tomorrow.

      Website source: http://co.fairbanks.ak.us/airquality/AQNearRealTime.aspx

      Gary

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  2. finally some real Minnesota cold came to Alaska

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  3. Mystery solved...somewhat. I called the FNSB Air Quality (459-1005) and asked about the location of the http://co.fairbanks.ak.us/airquality/CRCurrentPhoto.jpg

    I was told that the exact location couldn't be revealed for security purposes (?) but it was on Cranberry Drive north of Farmer's Loop Road. Top of the hill above and west of Skyline Drive.

    So, the exact location remains a Borough secret for now...until I go for a drive (;-)

    Gary

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